Popular cable television systems and satellite television receiving systems depend upon coaxial cable for distributing signals. As is known in the satellite TV arts, coaxial cable in such installations is terminated by F-connectors that threadably establish the necessary signal wiring connections. The F-connector forms a “male” connection portion that fits to a variety of ports forming the “female” portion of the connection.
F-connectors have numerous advantages over other known fittings, such as RCA, BNC, and PL-259 connectors, in that no soldering is needed for installation, and costs are reduced as parts are minimized. For example, with an F-connector, the center conductor of a properly prepared coaxial cable fitted to it forms the “male” portion of the receptacle connection, and no separate part is needed. A wide variety of F-connectors are known in the art, including the popular compression type connector that aids in rapid assembly and installation. Hundreds of such connectors are seen in U.S. Patent Class 439, particularly Subclass 548.
F-connectors include a tubular post designed to slide over coaxial cable dielectric material and under the braided outer conductor at the prepared end of the coaxial cable. The exposed, conductive braid is usually folded back over the cable jacket. The cable jacket and folded-back outer conductor extend generally around the outside of the tubular post and are typically coaxially received within the tubular connector. F-connectors also include a nut with internal threads. The nut is threaded unto an externally threaded port through rotation.
It is important to establish an effective electrical connection between the F-connector, the internal coaxial cable, and the terminal port. Proper installation techniques require adequate torquing of the nut. In other words, it is desired that the installer appropriately tighten the connector during installation. A dependable electrical grounding path must be established from the port, through the connector, to the outer conductor of the coaxial cable. Threaded F-connector nuts should be installed with a wrench to establish reasonable torque settings. Critical tightening of the F nut to the threaded port applies enough pressure to the internal components of the typical connector to establish a proper electrical ground path. When fully tightened, the head of the tubular post of the connector directly engages the edge of the outer conductor of the port, thereby making a direct electrical ground connection between the outer conductor of the port and the tubular post; in turn, the tubular post is engaged with the outer conductor of the coaxial cable completing the electrical path from the port to the outer conductor of the coaxial cable.
Many connector installations, however, are not properly completed. It is a simple fact in the satellite and cable television industries that many F-connectors are not appropriately tightened by the installer. Due to the fragile nature of some the electronic equipment involved, installers are sometimes hesitant to use a wrench to tighten the connector onto the port. Furthermore, often consumers will disconnect the connectors from the electronic equipment, for example when moving or replacing the electronic equipment, but consumers are not adequately trained or equipped to properly reconnect such connectors to the electronic equipment ports afterwards. Accordingly, the connectors may not be adequately tightened, and poor signal quality often results.
In the past, others have attempted to use coaxial connectors that avoid the need for wrenches or other tools used for tightening. For example, a torque wrench known as the “Wing Ding” is sold that is installed over the nut of the connector. The Wing Ding has a pair of opposing wings that allow a user greater leverage when hand tightening the connector to the port. However, the Wing Ding suffers from several flaws. First, it requires a user to constantly change his or her grip as the wings rotate. Second, the wings only provide a short area for fingers to grip. Third, the wings require a larger area for rotation making it more difficult to use when the port is located in a confined space.
Other attempts to produce more easily gripped and rotated grip aids have been made. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,716,062 to Palinkas et al. discloses a coaxial connector with a nut including a cylindrical outer skirt of constant outer diameter and a knurled gripping surface. U.S. Pat. No. 8,568,164 to Ehret et al. and U.S. Pat. Pub. 2014/0004739 A1 to Ehret et al. disclose a coaxial connector having an altered nut that allows engagement with a torque sleeve. However, all of these grip aids require the use of customized F-connectors. Specifically, none of these connectors use a standard hexagonal nut. It is highly disadvantageous to require the manufacture and stocking of a greater number and variety of versions of F-connectors. Use of specific connectors for special applications requires that an installer be supplied with a greater number of connector types, and that the installer be knowledgeable about the use and installation of each.
Accordingly, the present inventors have recognized a need to provide a torque sleeve that can be used over standard F-connectors. To do so, the present inventors recognized and solved a geometric problem. Specifically, one possible torque sleeve design would be similar to a socket wrench, i.e., a sleeve with a hexagonal inner bore that can engage with the nut. One such sleeve is disclosed in FIG. 15 of U.S. Pat. No. 7,147,508 to Burris et al. However, the present inventors discovered that such a sleeve is ineffective for use over standard F-connectors.
This is because it is preferable that the torque sleeve be assembled onto the coaxial connector from the back of the connector, i.e. the portion opposite the nut. This requires that at least a portion of the torque sleeve fit over the other outer parts of the coaxial connector such as the body and the end cap. However, the following problem was discovered by the inventors. A standard hexagonal nut has both a radius and an apothem for its outer dimension. A hexagon's radius is the distance from the center of the hexagon to one of its corners. This dimension can be designated “S.” A hexagon's apothem is the distance from the center of a hexagon to the mid-point of one of its sides. This dimension can be designated “T.” As a matter of geometry, T is less than S. In standard F-connectors, the body and the end cap have generally circular outer surfaces. Between the end cap and the body, there will exist a greatest radius that the torque sleeve will have to clear in order to get to the nut, which can be designated “R.” In standard F-connectors, R is greater than T but less than S. Since R is greater than T, the inventors discovered that it is impossible to design a sleeve with a hexagonal inner bore that can clear the body and the end cap and still engage the nut.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a torque sleeve that can solve this geometric problem but still engage the nut to effectively rotate the nut, thereby threading it onto an interface port.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a torque sleeve that can be easily gripped and rotated by hand, increasing the amount of torque on the coaxial connector when hand tightening.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a torque sleeve that can be assembled into place over a coaxial connector prior to sale.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a torque sleeve that can improve electrical grounding continuity of a coaxial connector.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a torque sleeve with minimized exterior dimensions to allow it to fit into most port locations.
It is another object of the present invention to make attachment of a coaxial connector to a port easier in blind attachment situations.
It is another object of the present invention to provide tactile feedback of torque sleeve rotation and to ensure tight connector of the coaxial connector to the port.
It is another object of the present invention to allow forward pressure on the torque sleeve without the sleeve sliding off of the front of the nut of the coaxial connector and to prevent the sleeve from easily pulling back off the nut during disconnection of the coaxial connector from the port.